Commencement and Progress of Orchid Culture. 137 



Many collectors were sent at great cost to the East and West Indies to 

 procure them, and the number of rare and valuable orchids received from 

 these sources was ver}' large. 



The cultivation of orchids was soon attempted on the Continent. In 

 Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, and Russia, large houses, devoted exclu- 

 sively to the cultivation of these plants, were erected, and soon boasted 

 rich collections. France alone manifested little interest in their culture ; 

 the only large collection being in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. 

 This fact is the more remarkable, as the French have ever maintained the 

 highest place in all branches of horticulture. 



About 1840, many species hitherto unknown were imported by French 

 amateurs, and their cultivation was attended with marked success. This led 

 to further importations, until, at the present time, the collections are as rich 

 as those of any country. From the year 1820, whence we must date the 

 progress of orchid culture, there has been a constant improvement. Diffi- 

 culties which seemed insurmountable have been gradually overcome, till, 

 at the present day, there is no bar to perfect success ; though, even now, 

 there are many disputed questions and differences among the most suc- 

 cessful growers as to the best methods of growing some species. As the 

 same species seem to grow equally well under opposite modes of treatment, 

 we can only conclude that the plants very easily adapt themselves to cul- 

 ture, and are by no means as capricious as has been supposed. In fact, in 

 the orchid-houses, these plants have acquired a beauty, and grow with a 

 luxuriance, wholly unknown to them in their native haunts. 



Species which in the wild state yield only two or three curious blossoms, 

 have, in cultivation, been brought to produce from twenty to thirty ; and, in 

 fact, many plants of the order submit to domestication as readily as our 

 more common garden-flowers. 



There seems to be no reason why orchid culture should not be far more 

 popular than at present. Already the number of species and varieties has 

 increased from the thirty known in 1820 to many hundred, and the future 

 opens a vast field for progress. The Island of Java alone produces over 

 three hundred species and varieties, from which it may be seen what im- 

 mense additions may yet be made to collections. This is the more proba- 



VOL. I. 18 



